Practical Dog Owner's Guide to Work-to-Eat Projects for Mental and Emotional Health Boost

in this video we'll be talking about work to eat projects for your dog we'll show you why they're important how you can implement them easily and some best practices in your work coming up [Music] what is up everyone ian here from simpawtico dog training and today we're going to be talking about work to eat projects and how they can help you create increased mental and emotional satisfaction for your dog as usual don't forget to check the youtube description for notes links and resources about the stuff we talk about now if you've watched any of my other stuff you know i like to talk about the rationale behind things including some of the behavioral science going on so if you want to get right to the projects you can check the time codes in the description and skip the beginning part here for the rest of you i think you'll find this interesting foraging is an instinctual need it is the act of working to find and procure food the canids of all stripes spend the vast majority of their waking hours searching for something to eat and it's no different for dogs on the other end of that though hunting and or foraging has about a 70 failure rate that's a lot of time spent on something that doesn't yield a lot of results however mother nature in her wisdom has made it so that all stages of the process regardless of outcome are inherently stimulating and enjoyable other ways the heck would keep doing it thus regular bowl feeding can deprive a dog of a whole suite of their principal activities related to searching for and acquiring food many dogs will finish eating and then spend much of their remaining days searching for entertainment in many cases then their recreational choices become annoying and mischievous behaviors this can mean an increased likelihood of becoming more reactive more easily hyper aroused when people come over stealing contraband chewing out slippers and probably 100 other things people wish their dogs wouldn't do now don't mistake what i'm saying work to eat projects don't magically solve behavior problems but increasing functional enrichment can make other training methods more effective while increasing your dog's overall mental and emotional health which i don't know about you is pretty important to me so delivering meals as work to eat projects allows a dog to forage search dissect and consume in a way that extends meal time and makes it highly emotionally satisfying the driving concept behind work to eat projects is the idea that the passive activity of eating from a bowl becomes a more interactive event where your dog receives mental and emotional stimulation work to eat projects are in place of regular meals and replace the bowl we've talked about this before and some folks have countered that dogs shouldn't have to earn their main meal this is simply a misunderstanding of the purpose of enrichment and how important opportunities to seek and forage are to your dog dogs are opportunistic scavengers descended from predators and so the act of seeking and acquiring food is something that's hard coded in their software along these lines there's a well-documented psychological component here called contra freeloading given a choice animals tend to prefer working for food rather than eating passively for free i mean we've known this since the 70s when rats and pigeons would choose to work for food over an open buffet and anyone who's ever worked in a zoo will tell you that everything from elephants to dolphins do the same thing animals would rather be active persistent energetic behavior is a survival trait that is reinforcing it's satisfying and this is true in dogs too so when we reduce meal time to a detached brainless experience we're creating a void in their daily existence this is so important to a dog's well-being that in the shelter i work at dogs almost never eat out of a bowl every meal is some kind of a work to eat project shelters are stressful places for dogs to be so working to eat is one of the many enrichment activities we do with dogs in our care now i know some of you are probably saying i've fed from a bowl as long as i've had dogs and i've never had a problem and that's great there are examples all the time to the contrary just like there are people that smoke their whole lives and don't get cancer it doesn't mean smoking's a good idea but in the typical urban setting dogs are much more likely to be under-stimulated and so work-to-eat projects is one easy way to productively make up the difference several pieces play into work to eat enrichment that are of note first is activating the nose believe it or not unlocking the full powers of their nose is not something most dogs are born with it's a skill that can be cultivated and honed we can show them how to do it and light up the olfactory bulb in their brain which incidentally is about 40 times bigger than yours another is activating the searching circuit in the brain the searching circuit is perhaps one of the most highly charged neural pathways searching is inherently satisfying we see this in almost all organisms because it's a survival train we even see it in people when they spend time browsing antique malls yard sales and clearance racks activating the searching circuit is why foraging is such a compelling satisfying activity for dogs we also like appealing to dissecting which is a component of the prey drive sequence prey drive sounds scary and i suppose if you were a rabbit being chased it would be really scary but understand that the desires associated with prey drive are hard-coded in a dog software there are thousands of years of genetic history there the drive itself isn't a problem unstructured drive is a problem so if we provide structured opportunities for them to express these natural behaviors and to find gratification with these divires and we connect those with us then we not only build a deeper bond but a healthier and better behaved dog too on a side note this is one of the reasons i love talking retrieves so much these activities create structure around prey drive dogs are satisfied and we get to channel those desires into building better obedience and character traits one thing trainers see a lot is when dogs become too invested in instant gratification and are unwilling to work through problems other kinds of training becomes difficult typically we discuss this in terms of low frustration tolerance in dogs we see this as behaviors aimed at avoiding frustrating events which paradoxically lead to increased frustration and increased stress specifically for you watching this if work to eat projects are new to your dog you may have to initially make them very easy or your dog may give up there are countless methods and variations on the work to eat theme you could probably do a different one every day and never run out of ideas that said what follows are some of my favorites that i keep coming back to maize bowls are the easiest enrichment strategy to implement these are bowls with obstacles built into them that make it harder for your dog to access the food typically these are designed to slow down a dog that eats too quickly especially for dogs susceptible to bloat however maize bowls are great for any dog as an enrichment activity they are also an ideal way to introduce work to eat projects to dogs with low frustration tolerance maize bowls are commercially available at most pet retailers or online stuffed hollow toys have the greatest amount of creativity and variation available kongs are probably one of the most popular but they are not the only kind available i also love the petsafe barnacle pet safe squirrel dude the westpot topple our pet's atomic ball and the rough wear not a cone regardless of which one you use they're all prepared mostly the same to use right away fill the toy with part of your dog's daily ration of food slap a knob of peanut butter or plain yogurt on top you can also substitute any nut butter such as almond cashew or hazelnut except macadamia also make sure nothing you use contains xylitol which is poisonous to dogs then give the toy to your dog you can also prepare it ahead of time fill the toy with part of your dog's daily ration drizzle a little water through it not a lot just moisten the food a bit freeze it and at meal time take it out of the freezer and slap a topper on it i often get asked do frozen toys hurt my dog's stomach no by the time the already thawing toy has been pawed and licked and the food has been chewed and swallowed it's way above freezing i mean it's it's barely even cold by that point pro tip for low frustration dogs don't moisten or freeze the food give it to them dry and loose so the food just tumbles out a larger toy with a bigger hole may even be better so it's easier to access the food you can also purchase other hollow toys with more complicated configurations the kong wobbler the our pets buster cube and petsafe's magic mushroom and tugga jug i don't recommend moistening or freezing the food for these pro tip don't leave the toys out once the meal is finished or your dog abandons it pick it up wash it and put it away we tell kids not to leave their dirty plates around the house the same thing applies with these the only things that should be available 24 7 are your chew toys dissecting things is one of the end elements of the prey drive sequence and it's a hardwired instinct that dogs find inherently gratifying this is why dogs tend to tear apart stuffed animals the laundry or the male we can help satisfy this urge by putting it where it goes meal time if they are given sufficient opportunities to engage in this activity and only allowed to do so in these functional contexts they're not only getting super enrichment but are also generally less likely to dissect other things around the house you can use cardboard egg cartons cereal boxes granola bar boxes paper bags or almost anything fill the parcel with part of your dog's daily ration add any other bits you like to make it interesting such as bits of veggies sardines or some wet food close it up serve it up it will make a bit of a mess and they'll probably eat some of the cardboard of course monitor your dog's experience and adjust accordingly but i've done this literally thousands of times in my own home and we've done this for years with the dogs at the shelter with no problems stubbies and scuds are a variation on dissectables that i love and developed further save your toilet paper and paper towel rolls and believe me it won't take long to get more than you need fold down one end of a toilet paper roll fill it one half to two thirds with your dog's food and feel free to add other yummy things to it put a knob of peanut butter or almond butter on the top and serve it up right away or stick it in the freezer for later you can make about a dozen stubbies in five minutes or so to put in the freezer and have them on demand as you need them some dogs will open them up and then extract the stuff inside some dogs will consume the whole thing and that's okay they'll just poop out the cardboard of course monitor your dog the first few times they dig into one a scud is just a paper towel roll where both ends have been folded down this is best for large or mid-sized dogs and an entire meal can fit in a scud [Music] lay a towel out flat and create a bead of food in the center lengthwise then roll the whole thing up your dog will have to unroll it to access their food vary the size of your towel depending on the size of your dog small dogs may just get a tea towel while large dogs could get a full-size towel or several rolls stacked up dogs will often figure out this one pretty quickly so feel free to keep the novelty fresh by varying the contents in multiple towels or arrange the towels in creative ways or nest and counter roll towels or start turning this into a searching activity as i mentioned foraging is a powerful activity for any dog one of my favorite ways to do this is with anti-fatigue mats these are available in your hardware store and usually come in three by three squares these are scored on the square foot and are thus very easy to cut with a utility knife into nine one square foot pieces these super sturdy all rubber dishwasher safe squares make great enrichment toys for your dog put the mat down scatter some kibble on it or even use wet food and let your dog work to get it out all of the holes and grooves snuffle mats are also available to buy and there are instructions to make them online but i personally don't like those because as much as dogs tend to like them they are really high maintenance they get pretty funky after a few uses and then they're very tedious to clean i prefer things that are single use or that i can spray off in the sink and then put in the dishwasher as far as forage feeding goes you can even do something as simple as putting the food in muffin tins or cookie sheets or boot trays [Music] or even out in the grass on a nice day there are several kinds of more involved enrichment toys out there nina addison toys for example are pretty cool enrichment toys but they're generally fairly expensive if you see something that intrigues you and you think that your dog would like it well then go for it but otherwise i'm all about the diy aesthetic i feel like it's less expensive with more freedom to experiment that way usually once your dog figures out the store-bought toys the novelty's kind of over but of course your mileage may vary work to eat is just one branch of canine enrichment generally canine enrichment is a holistic approach that attempts to meet all of a dog's natural and instinctual needs i usually start with work to eat when i introduce enrichment to my students because it's one of the easiest to implement right away if you're keen to learn more about canine enrichment and try out more things and i definitely encourage that here are some resources for you the book beyond squeaky toys innovative ideas for eliminating problem behaviors and enriching the lives of dogs and cats by cynthia alia mitchell and nicole nacasio hiskey wow those are really long names the book canine enrichment for the real world by ali bender and emily strong on pinterest you look up canine enrichment and you'll probably get more ideas than you can use in a lifetime the facebook group canine enrichment has over 300 000 members ideas are abundant and people will often post videos of their dogs doing things so you can see it all in action all right everybody i hope this has helped you understand the why and the how and i hope it sparked your imagination to go and try some of these things out yourself you can do this two or three times a week to get the feel of it but you can honestly replace as many bowl feedings as you want with work to eat projects there really is no limit now there's a free pdf on my website that diagrams a lot of these ideas out for you i'll link to the download page in the description below now questions for you what are some ideas you have that we can add to the mix and what questions do you have about work to eat projects let me hear from you in those youtube comments don't forget to thumbs up this video if you found it useful subscribe to the simpatico channel so you never miss any of our videos and don't forget to check the description for links and resources as always keep learning keep practicing we'll see you next time thanks for watching

Channel: Simpawtico Dog Training

Views: 25,908

Keywords: contrafreeloading, canine enrichment diy, dog diy projects, dog enrichment ideas diy, diy dog toy, work to eat, mental stimulation for dogs, forage feeding, kong toy, tug a jug, west paw toppl, snuffle mat, simpawtico dog training, Ian Stone

Id: Xoud91onutY

Length: 15min 47sec (947 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021